The Riverlink Building continues to shine for Maitland

This week I want to focus on The Riverlink Building, which was the star of the show at the NSW Architecture Awards held at The Venue Alexandria last Friday night.

The building, which was designed by CHROFI with McGregor Coxall and was part of Component Two of The Levee Development, won the NSW Architecture Medallion, the Sulman Medal for Public Architecture, the Blacket Prize and an urban design award.

While it is great to see, I am not very surprised by the success this building is having with awards. This is a fantastic building, designed with a high level of professionalism, foresight and boldness. The Riverlink Building has quickly become not just a building or space, but it has become a representation of where our city is heading.

The success and reputation of this building is drawing the eyes of many to the city of Maitland, too. I was interviewed for an article recently and the journalist highlighted Maitland as somewhere to look for those, in state government, facilitating the redevelopment of Circular Quay. To have a piece of infrastructure leading the way in the public domain space is a feather in our city’s cap.

The article called it an ‘archway’, a ‘portal’ and a ‘tunnel’ which in itself highlighted all the different things the building can be. In its short life, we have seen the building used at events, for activations, pop ups and more. A highlight for me was seeing a silks performer suspended from the roof of the building at After Dark – Winter Solstice a few weekends ago. It was a sight to behold and demonstrated the building’s versatility once again.

As far as I am concerned, this building has had an impact on the city far greater than I would have ever thought possible when design began. So much credit has to go to CHROFI, McGregor Coxall, and all Council staff that worked so hard on the project. The quality of materials and the skill of the builders can’t be undersold either, it was an amazing overall collaboration.

At the end of the day the purpose of this building was to strengthen the relationship between Central Maitland and the Hunter River and I think it’s safe to say that we’ve achieved that. It’s angular design and open layout has also allowed it to be sympathetic to the nearby heritage buildings, which in itself is something to be commended.

I am proud of the Riverlink Building and what it represents, and I look forward to it developing as a real visitor drawcard in the future. Perhaps one day we can have people visiting Maitland who go out of their way to stop simply because they want to take a look at The Riverlink Building.

In addition to the awards last week, The Riverlink Building has had success at the 2018 Blueprint Awards, the 2018 Think Brick Awards, the 2018 World Architecture Festival, the 2019 Good Design Awards, the 2019 INDE.Awards, the 2019 Newcastle Architecture Awards, the 2019 Architizer A+Awards and the National Trust Heritage Awards. The building is also nominated in two categories at the upcoming National Architecture Awards and is longlisted for the esteemed Dezeen Awards. The building is also featuring on the front cover of our latest Meander, Maitland lifestyle magazine.

This building is a wonderful addition to our cityscape and next time you visit Central Maitland I encourage you to stop by, perhaps grab a coffee or something to eat, and just take in the space for what it is. I know I will.